Some See Big Problem in Wisconsin Drinking

The New York Times ^ | November 15, 2008 | DIRK JOHNSON AND GRANT JUNKIE

[Eric Blair 2084]

When a 15-year-old comes into Wile-e’s bar looking for a cold beer, the bartender, Mike Whaley, is happy to serve it up — as long as a parent is there to give permission.

“If they’re 15, 16, 17, it’s fine if they want to sit down and have a few beers,” said Mr. Whaley, who owns the tavern in this small town in southern Wisconsin.

While it might raise some eyebrows in most of America, it is perfectly legal in Wisconsin. Minors can drink alcohol in a bar or restaurant in Wisconsin if they are accompanied by a parent or legal guardian who gives consent. While there is no state law setting a minimum age, bartenders can use their discretion in deciding whom to serve.

When it comes to drinking, it seems, no state keeps pace with Wisconsin. This state, long famous for its breweries, has led the nation in binge drinking in every year since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began its surveys on the problem more than a decade ago. Binge drinking is defined as five drinks in a sitting for a man, four for a woman.

People in Wisconsin are more likely than anywhere else to drive drunk, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The state has among the highest incidence of drunken driving deaths in the United States.

Now some Wisconsin health officials and civic leaders are calling for the state to sober up. A coalition called All-Wisconsin Alcohol Risk Education started a campaign last week to push for tougher drunken driving laws, an increase in screening for alcohol abuse at health clinics and a greater awareness of drinking problems generally.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Big Brother, Nanny State, Grant Junkie, Bogus Study, Junk Science, Social Engineering, Egalitarian, Central Planning, Sheeple Control, Health Nazi, Socialism, Collectivism

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We the People Sheeple of the United States Nanny State, in Order to form a more perfect Union Socialist Utopia, establish Justice Socially engineer a country of non smoking, physically fit, teetotalers, insure domestic Tranquility Smoking bans in bars, limits on unhealthy food and social drinking, provide for the common defense Universal Healthcare, promote the general Welfare health of the population whether they like it or not, in order to save above mentioned Universal Healthcare entitlement program from bankruptcy, and secure the Blessings of Liberty Dependency to ourselves progressive liberals and our Posterity Hitler Youth who we brainwash through public school education, do ordain decree and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Nanny State of Liberals.

[Publius]

Coming from an Italian family, I was drinking at the age of 11. Wine with meals, unless it was my mother's homemade pizza, for which we all had beer.

It was no big deal. And it was why I never got into the experience of just getting drunk. It was good training for adulthood.

[Army Air Corps]

Your personal experience sounds like that of most of the kids in largely German communities in central Texas.

[pnh102]

What a sensible law. More states should follow this example. I see nothing wrong with children drinking reasonable amounts of alcohol under their parents’ supervision.

[TornadoAlley3]

He said state agencies would use a $12.6 million federal grant

stop spending my money.

[aWolverine]

He said state agencies would use a $12.6 million federal grant stop spending my money.

Stop giving it to them.

[STONEWALLS]

““On game days, a buddy of mine will come to the bar with his 2-year-old, his 8-year-old and his 10-year-old,” Mr. Whaley said. “He might get a little drunk. But his wife just has a few cocktails. It’s no big deal. Everybody has a good time.”

‘It’s no big deal’....wrong!....I don’t know what he means by getting a ‘little drunk’ but it’s a real big deal to drive home when you’re DUI....drunk driving is the most frequently committed violent crime in the United States....if you want to party, call a cab.

[Lorianne]

I noticed this right off. In college, kids who had been allowed an occasional alcholic drink at home by their parents never got into the binge drinking thing.

Kids who were forbidden, the biggest binge drinkers.

I remember a friend of mine visiting was shocked that my parents’ liquor was out in the open and not in locked away. She said “Do they leave it out like that when they’re gone and you’re home alone?” Of course, they did, and none of us kids ever drank anything. It wasn’t because we were goody twoshoes ... it just never occured to us. We didn’t have to be sneaky.

In contrast, 3 out of 5 of my friend and her siblings, who grew up in a strict teetotaler household, are now alcholics.

[doc1019]

Smoking, salt in NY, cupcakes at school parties … we will all be living in a cocoon of government nanny state control soon. (Shades of THX 1138) ;-)

[Publius]

With the exception of the Brits, who have been binge drinkers since the invention of gin in the 1740’s, most Europeans understand the real place of alcohol in life, which is at the table at meals.

[diverteach]

Now I know why a good friend of mine growing up always wanted to spend his summer vacation at his uncles house in Wis.

[Eric Blair 2084]

‘It’s no big deal’....wrong!....I don’t know what he means by getting a ‘little drunk’ but it’s a real big deal to drive home when you’re DUI....drunk driving is the most frequently committed violent crime in the United States....if you want to party, call a cab.

I'm drinking and driving right now. I'm also violating the law against texting while driving. What do you think of that?

[Publius]

Let me tell you a little story of my teenage years.

Forty years ago in South Jersey, there was tradition of paying an adult to go into a liquor store and buy a bottle of cheap red wine, aka "dago red". Upon getting the wine, the ringleader would tie a rope to it and immerse it in the lake at the county park to keep it chilled. Come the dark of a summer evening, the guys would go down to the "crick", as "creek" was pronounced in South Jersey, open up the bottle -- we didn't uncork it because it didn't have a cork -- and then the assembled multitude would get stinking drunk. And I mean "stinking". They would throw up for days afterward.

One night I received an invitation to join the festivities, and I demurred. I was immediately classified as a "pussy".

While my friends were getting eaten alive by Jersey mosquitoes (the state bird), I was home watching a late movie on TV ("Rio Bravo", I recall). I built myself a late night snack, taking some of my mother's leftover roast beef and making two sandwiches, backed up by pickles, olives and my mother's homemade roast peppers. I washed it all down with a couple of Schaefer's. ("Schaefer is the one beer to have when you're having more than one.") I did all this in the comfort of an air conditioned house.

The next day I ran into my friends. They were all throwing up intermittently and looked like they had been dined on by our local insects. But they were happy.

"What did I miss"?" I asked.

"We had a great time! I got so-o-o-o drunk!"

I just smiled at them.

[Eric Blair 2084]

[Eric Blair 2084]

[cripplecreek]

But can they smoke in the bar?

[STONEWALLS]

“I’m drinking and driving right now. I’m also violating the law against texting while driving. What do you think of that?”

...I think you need to be arrested.

[ozaukeemom]

4 drinks is binge drinking? Whatever!
I tell people that my son can go to a bar with me and drink if I give permission. It is rare when I do. They have trouble believing me. The funny part is these are people who live here!

[doc1019]

LOL!